Monday, 3 March 2014

Evidence of Corruption/Corruption of Evidence: CCASNC 2014

The annual graduate-led conference,
Cambridge Colloquium in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, took
place in
the English Faculty on the 15th of February, 2014.
The
theme of this year’s conference was Evidence of
Corruption/Corruption of Evidence, and we welcomed Dr Oliver
Padel as
our keynote speaker, with student speakers coming from as far
afield
as Iceland, Ireland and L.A.

The CCASNC Committee, 2014

Despite the potential implications of
the theme, the papers were cohesive and comprehensive. The tone
for
the day was set by the keynote lecture, which addressed the
crucial
question of ‘What is corruption?’ Dr Padel presented us with
evidence of place-name change and discussed the nature of these
changes, taking us through the process of differentiating
between
different types of evidence, and deciding what constitutes
corruption. Although his paper was specifically concerned with
place-names, Dr Padel raised some important questions that were
returned to throughout the day.

Our first student session of the day
was
centred on corruption of a different nature, namely, the
monstrous. Both Camilla Pedersen and Rebecca Merkelbach
discussed societal
conceptions of monstrosity, and the types of corruption within
societal constructs or within oneself that can lead to an
outcast
status. Pedersen, who travelled over from the National
University of
Ireland, Maynooth, was focussed on the medieval literatures of
Iceland and Ireland, taking a comparative approach to the
depictions
of shape-shifting in these two cultures. Merkelbach, an ASNC
student, on the other hand, explained that monstrosity in the
Sagas
of the Icelanders is a social perception, and she presented us
with a
scale that she had developed to illustrate this concept.

CCASNC Bookstall

Having learned that the claws of
literary monstrosity are conceptual, we moved on to a more
physical
form of corruption, that of manuscripts. Our first paper of the
session, presented by Simon Thomson of UCL, sought to question
our
understanding of the Beowulf manuscript. He identified
several codes which he suggested communicated aspects of the
text to
the reader now lost to the inattentive eye. Ben Guy, ASNC,
analysed
the Harley Manuscript 3859, a very important document for the
history
of Medieval Wales as it is often considered to be the only
witness to
some of the historical materials from which it was formed at the
scriptorium of St David’s. By comparing this manuscript with
some
later genealogical tracts, however, Guy argued that there is
evidence
for a second witness to the St David’s collection, and
secondarily
that, if accepted, this would demonstrate a few instances of
corruption in the Harley manuscript.

Discussion of corruption continues at lunch

After
our
intellectual appetites were sated, we adjourned for a lovely
lunch before returning for our fourth session. The focus of
this
session was the editing of the past for contemporary
consumption.
Daisy Le Helloco, from
Bangor
University, addressed changing antiquarian interests in the
editing
of Gildas’ De Excidio et Conquestu Brittaniae. In line with the medieval author
of the text, who composed his
history with his own agenda in mind, so too did the earliest
editors
of the work. Rosie Bonté,
ASNC, focussed on the presentation of the conversion of
Orkney from
paganism to Christianity in Orkneyingasaga. Bonte argued that the
presentation of Orkney's conversion in
Orkneyingasaga
reflects Icelandic anxiety over the encroaching power of
the
Norwegian king in the second half of the thirteenth
century. The
final presentation of the session was given by Dale
Kedwards of
the
University
of
York. In
his paper, Kedwards discussed evidence of corruption in
two world maps preserved in an Icelandic manuscript of the
thirteenth
century, which he proposed had been manipulated, with the
unintended
effect of disassociating the principal winds and the
cardinal
directions.

In
the final session of the conference, we welcomed Rebecca
Hill of the
University of California, Los Angeles, and David
Callander, ASNC. Hill explored the various approaches of
translators to filling in the
lost lines of the Old English poem, ‘The Husband’s
Message’. She surveyed modern translations of the poem to
establish to what
extent the Old English metre was reproduced by comparing
the
translation of the extant text with the modern
reconstructions of what might once have been in the gap. David
Callander gave the final paper of the day, questioning the
relationship between Old English and Medieval Welsh elegies. Using
extracts from some of the texts in question, he
explored the reasons why scholars have traditionally
had a tendency to compare these two literatures, but
then
by examining
a
sample of
their apparently shared motifs, he
highlighted the
differences between
them.

Dr Oliver Padel holds court at dinner, Newnham College

After
a quick fortifying pint and continued academic discussion,
the
day’s festivities were concluded in with a feast in
Newnham
College. While the beautiful hall may have reflected a
somewhat
later style, guest were arranged
along an expansive central table fit for any medieval
dinner;
mead-horn not included. Though we were able to thank our
guests and
conference attendees then and there, it bears repeating
that we are
extremely grateful to all of those speakers, volunteers
and committee
members who gave their time and energy to make it such a
productive
and enjoyable day. We hope you had as much fun with
corruption as we
did.

Thanks to Myriah Williams and Eleanor Heans-Glogowska for this report.

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About Me

This blog is written and maintained by members of the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge. We study the history, languages, literatures and material culture of medieval Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia.
For more information about us go to: http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk